Facilitating a School Lockdown – 3 Minutes To Get It Right

The safety and protection of children in educational institutions are of utmost significance. Recent government guidelines have made it mandatory for all schools to have a procedure for school lockdowns. During a lockdown, the school swiftly secures all entry and exit points within a remarkably short time frame of three minutes.

3 Minutes Isn’t Long – How can radios help in your school lockdown?

Consider this: You can finish reading this article aloud in that very same three-minute duration. Now, imagine the challenge faced by school staff when responding to an incident in a large campus within such a limited timeframe. If you were to send someone to the location, they would take approximately 27 seconds to cover every 100 meters. By the time you reach this point in the article, a minute has already passed, and you may be running out of options as the potential threat looms closer.

Thankfully, technology, coupled with insightful approaches, can offer a solution to this predicament. The best two way radios for schools enable communication across the campus with a simple push of a button. At Digitall Comms, we specialise in providing such equipment, offering tailored packages to accommodate your site’s size, layout, and specific requirements. By partnering with a company that possesses expertise in emergency response best practices and supplies top-notch radios for schools, you can achieve a swift lockdown in a matter of seconds instead of minutes.

During a school lockdown facilitated by walkie talkies, key personnel, including the secretary, caretaker, and other staff members, follow a predetermined pattern of response to minimise risks to the children under their care.

Pre-Arranged Signal

In times of emergency, it is crucial to employ a pre-arranged signal for communication. Announcing the exact nature of an incident over a radio network would be ill-advised, as it could cause panic and potentially alert intruders or aggressors to your awareness of their presence.

Instead, a coded message can be transmitted, blending seamlessly with ordinary school conversations but containing a specific element that everyone is trained to recognise. For example, a coded message might be: “Please remind your classes that the sign-up sheet for Swahili lessons is in reception.” In this case, “Swahili” acts as the code word that prompts staff members to initiate lockdown procedures, and “reception” indicates the location currently central to the incident. Naturally, this method cannot be used in a school where Swahili is genuinely part of the curriculum, as it would lead to false alarms.

This approach to handling emergencies is employed in various settings, including shops, banks, and uniformed services. It is recommended to complement this procedure with the use of the best two way radios for schools, where safety and speed are of the essence.

To learn more, visit our Radio for Schools & Education page or call our expert team on 0330 088 7008.